Aquarius
by Gumnut
Summary: Something has happened and things have changed.
1. Chapter 1

_Title: Aquarius_  
 _Author: Gumnut_  
 _Fandom: Stargate Atlantis_  
 _Rating: PG-13_  
 _Summary: New with a past._  
 _Part 1/?_  
 _Word count: 1,029_  
 _Spoilers & warnings: Whole series, but nothing in particular._  
 _Disclaimer: Mine? You gotta be kidding. Money? Don't have any, don't bother._  
 _Author's note: Okay, I haven't written anything in about six years, so my writing muscles are extremely rusty and this is really just an exercise to loosen them up a little. No purpose, no aim, I just grabbed the fandom I happened to be reading a lot of at the moment and went for it. Of course, my brain wasn't happy to just write a drabble, no it decided on saga, so please read below something that may get larger. Un-beta-ed, not really worth it._

The railing was cold under his fingertips, but the breeze rifling through his hair was only cool, carrying that ever-present scent of ocean and sealife. He couldn't see the mainland from here, but then they never landed Atlantis close to the coast – except for that unplanned splashdown in San Francisco Bay, and he couldn't really blame Carson for that one.

This planet was new. Well, new to them. He'd chosen the centre of a southern ocean. It appeared to be calm enough in the sub-tropics for the moment, no hurricanes (or cyclones, as McKay pointed out, since they were south of the equator). But should one arise they had a satellite in orbit to give them warning and they could simply move out of its path.

It was so useful to have access to enough ZPMs to bring the city up to its full strength, to enable it to do what it was meant to do.

"Well, the stargate has been realigned."

John almost jumped…almost. It was a sign of how tired he was that McKay could surprise him at all. Perhaps that and the expectation that he had more time for this quiet moment. He turned his back to the ocean. "Do we know if there is a network out there?" The information in the Ancient database about the Aquarius Galaxy was minimal. The Lanteans had been here, that much was clear, but whether they had planted a Stargate network, that was yet to be discovered.

McKay sighed. He was doing that a lot these days. "As I said earlier, our gate is a Pegasus Gate. If there is a network in this galaxy, our gate will not automatically talk to it. I have the bridgework prepared, but first we need to find a gate in this galaxy so I can align and interface the program." McKay reached out and took his shoulder. "Look, John, you are no good to anyone at the moment. Sleep. Go to bed before I have to explain this to you for a third time."

God, McKay was being nice, he must look bad.

The hand on his shoulder squeezed and let go. Rodney reached for his comm, "Carson, can I see you in the control room? Yes. Elizabeth's Balcony."

"Rodney!"

"What? Are you going to tell me you can sleep? Because don't bother, I'm not going to believe you."

John glared at his friend and made a show of not limping as he pushed past, but failed miserably as he came down hard on his right foot and the injured sole screamed in protest. He stumbled and McKay grabbed him before he could collide with the wall. "Are you trying to prove my point or are you brain injured as well?" He didn't wait for an answer, instead securing his hold on John and manhandling him through the door to the nearest seat. "What are you doing up here anyway? Don't you trust me?"

"Rodne-"

"No, no, I can take a hint. Your confidence in my skills has taken a battering. I need to earn your trust again." The scientist backed off a little.

Damn it! John grabbed for McKay. "Damn it, McKay, we've gone through this, it wasn't your fault. You can't predict everything. We survived. We escaped. We're safe. Done deal, what happened has happened and there isn't a damn thing we can do about it other than move forward, and forward we are going. Can we dial Earth?"

McKay looked away for a moment. "Theoretically."

"Then let's make theory a reality." He stood up, gathering his balance and forcing a confident but limping stride out into the gate room.

He almost collided with Beckett. "Colonel?"

"Sorry, not now, Doc." He pushed past, heading for gate control. "Chuck, dial her up."

"Yes, sir." The familiar chime of the gate locking chevrons was calming, and for a moment everything slipped back to normal. He was tempted to close his eyes and soak it in and imagine they were in Pegasus and it was their regular report.

The clunk of non-connection disabused all normality. "No connection, sir." Damn.

McKay scuttled past, obviously wanting to check the readings himself. A moment of eyes darting over the readouts and the man's expression fell. "One planet, one stargate, and now apparently one galaxy, one intergalactic stargate."

"Try it again."

The gate spun again and again the clunk and whine of non-connection.

"Okay. We need to find this galaxy's intergalactic gate."

"Do we even know there is one?" McKay. "Colonel, without the gate, we would have to move the city to even reach the next star system." Zelenka? He hadn't even noticed the man was in the room. Tired, so damn tired.

"Have we checked this planet for a stargate?"

The silence in the room was a little ominous. "There is no gate on this planet. That is why we chose it." McKay was looking at him meaningfully a moment before his gaze flicked to Beckett and back.

John ignored it. "What about the rest of this solar system? We can reach that by jumper at least."

McKay blinked. "Uh, maybe." He glared at Zelenka and they both turned to the consoles and began madly muttering at each other.

His team was as tired as he was.

A hand rested on his shoulder and he turned to find Carson at his elbow. Quietly, "Colonel, I recommended rest. Do I need to make it an order?"

His sight blurred at the edges for a moment. "Doc-"

"These people are relying on you, Colonel."

"I know that, Carson!" His hushed whisper wasn't as hushed as it could be and out of the corner of his eye, he saw Chuck flinch. John raised a hand to his head. So tired.

"What would Elizabeth say?

"Okay, okay, I get it! I'll go to my quarters. Will that make you happy?"

"And sleep, Colonel."

He threw up his hands and managed not to fall over. "Fine! Get Lorne up here."

Something flickered in Beckett's eyes, but then it was gone and the man was leading him out. "What?"

"Time to sleep, John." It was another whisper, one he barely heard.

-o-o-o-  
TBC?


	2. Chapter 2

Title: Aquarius  
Author: Gumnut  
Fandom: Stargate Atlantis  
Rating: PG-13  
Summary: Something's happened and there are changes  
Part 2/?  
Word count: 1,067  
Spoilers & warnings: Whole series, but nothing in particular.  
Disclaimer: Mine? You gotta be kidding. Money? Don't have any, don't bother.  
Author's note: Okay, I wrote some more. There is even some plot happening and I have worked out a backstory, scary stuff. Again, rusty writing muscles and no beta. Hope you enjoy it anyway.

McKay looked up at the sound of misstep only to see Carson catch John on the way down.

Damnit, why didn't the man listen! Leaving his instruments to the barely capable hands of Zelenka he ran over to assist Beckett. "What's he done now?"

Carson gently lowered Sheppard to the floor, experienced eyes giving him the once over. "He's done enough already. Won't listen." The doctor muttered to himself, checking vitals with his fingertips. "Perhaps ye can convince him. Burns aren't to be messed with."

"Don't you think I've tried?"

Beckett muttered a few more words before calling downstairs for assistance. "Perhaps a return visit to the infirmary will convince him. He's not needed in the chair any time soon?"

McKay blinked. "No. We're down. The immediate area is secure. Sat Nine is in orbit." McKay grumbled. "Found him out on the balcony staring at the sky. Didn't bother to tell me he was up here. What the hell he was doing here, I have no idea."

"Well, he's down for the count now. You can only push your body so far. Over here, lads."

McKay helped lift the Colonel onto the gurney and stepped back as the medical team wheeled John out of the room. Beckett gripped Rodney's shoulder, gave him a weary half smile, before letting him go and following his patient to the infirmary.

Rodney sighed, paused a moment, and then realised how quiet it was in the control room. "What are you all looking at? Should I assume you've found a stargate, since you are all wasting time? Time you are freely giving to the Rath so they can come kick our asses again?" He fisted his hands in frustration. "Get to work!" Damnit, did he have to do everything around here?

He ran a hand over his face, as the room erupted into action around him. The little John in the back of his head smirked at him. Oh, shut up. He wouldn't have to be in command if Sheppard hadn't done the hero bit and gotten himself maimed and exhausted.

But then if he hadn't then it was doubtful that McKay would be here to complain about it.

Little John smirked again.

Oh, for the love of-

They needed to find a damn stargate.

-o-o-o-

To Rodney's surprise, and not a little relief, they did find a stargate, quite quickly and quite nearby. There definitely wasn't one on the planet, Rodney had double checked just in case his own exhaustion had dented his genius. However according to the sensors of Sat9 there was a gate on the smaller of the planet's two moons.

This was unusual. Though it wasn't the first moon to be found sporting a stargate, it wasn't a common occurrence in either the Milky Way or Pegasus Galaxies. Whether or not it was in the Aquarius Galaxy…well, new kids on the block and all.

This, of course, led to a myriad of questions as to whether the presence of a gate on a moon, in orbit of a planet, would interfere with the operation of a gate on that planet. Rodney could not answer with one hundred percent decisiveness due to the fact that they had never encountered the problem before – except for that Furling transportation device SG-1 had fought with a few years back (Sam had actually tried to contact him for help, but McKay had unfortunately been in Canada with Jeannie attempting to divert her from that English Major) - and that wasn't strictly speaking a stargate in any case (and what was with that stupid device anyway? Hadn't those guys heard of shuttles? Beaming technology? It was only to a moon, for crying out loud).

They needed to fly up there, to the Gate Moon, Rodney had named it himself, and confirm the presence of the gate and see if it was operational. And ruins, once again they were looking for ruins, something in stone, an entire library, perhaps, or a Lonely Planet Guide to the Aquarius Galaxy to hopefully find some information that could give them some viable gate addresses. Since they currently had none.

Talk about starting from scratch again.

"Rodney, we need to fly to that moon."

He whirled. "Thank you for stating the obvious, Radek. In case you haven't noticed, we are out of good pilots." Sheppard was down for the count. Lorne was still in the infirmary and was likely to be there for a very long time. A sting of guilt. If only he had pulled the pilot out faster, if only –

"You can fly."

"I said good pilots, Radek."

"At this point, McKay, even you are better than not going."

Rodney glared. "Thank you for your vote of confidence." He didn't want to admit it, but his confidence wasn't in abundance when it came to flying a jumper. In an emergency, sure, but – and yes, he could admit to himself that he was missing Sheppard, if only for his flying skills.

Carson would skin him alive if he dangled this mission in front of the Colonel. In fact, he was on the verge of hoping Sheppard was asleep or unconscious so he didn't have to report and then fight the man back to bed.

"Okay, Radek, speak to Major Whathisname, grab some marines and minions. Pack a jumper."

The least he could do was prevent John from yet another attempt to kill himself in the name of the greater good.

-o-o-o-

 _It always started the same…_

 _The peaceful planet below. Sitting with Ronon explaining the mechanics of a game of marbles while a blue marble rotated ponderously below them._

 _Woolsey and Keller were down on the planet inaugurating the first human-wraith colony where some volunteers were helping to set up a settlement that could teach the new non-human-eating wraith how to farm, raise crops and hopefully build a peaceful society._

 _In the hope of peace, Atlantis had a small team of puddlejumpers cloaked and deployed around the planet, some hiding behind moons, others in orbital patrol. These were backed up by both the Daedelus patrolling the heliopause, and the Apollo in geosynchronous orbit above the site._

 _It always started the same…_

 _A golden glow, bearing down from his left, enveloping the planet. A yell from his headset, and the cabin lighting up orange with reflected firelight._

 _Ronon was yelling. The planet was burning._

 _And he was screaming._

-o-o-o-

TBC?


End file.
